Thursday, January 26, 2012

Happy Thursday everyone! I remember my alarm going off this morning and wishing that it was Saturday so I could sleep in! By this late in the week I am ready for a sleep-in day!

Here are my three things on this beautiful sunny Thursday!

1. I am really excited to take Jackson to his first doggy daycare this weekend. We are going to let him try it out for an hour or two to see how he does with the other dogs before signing him up. I'm excited at the thought of him being able to play with some doggy friends during the day instead of being home all by himself!

2. We are going to look at wedding bands this weekend! This makes my heart smile! I love doing this kind of stuff and Noel is super excited to go too! He's really getting into the little details of planning with me. I never thought he would be this way. But I love it!

3. I am so looking forward to dinner tonight. As a matter of fact it's all I can think about this afternoon! We are trying a new recipe in the crockpot called Buffalo chicken. Toss in four chicken breasts, mix up 1 cup of wing sauce and half a package of powdered Ranch dressing and pour over chicken. Let it cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add two tablespoons of margarine and shred chicken. Serve on a bun, with some cheese and lettuce. We'll also be having a salad. Yum! I will let you know how it turns out.We are also going to be trying another recipe called Drunken Roast this weekend which uses a whole can of beer! I love my crockpot!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I seriously am a terrible blogger. I read blogs almost on a daily basis but often feel like my life is not overly exciting and that I never really have exciting things to talk about.

Today though (and probably straight through until October when our reception is) I will chat about wedding!

I am truly loving every single minute of wedding planning. Sure, there have been times when I have felt overwhelmed and somewhat stressed - probably because I'm planning two separate things and because Noel is always so busy with work that it feels like we have a small window of a few days each month to make decisions together.

But I am feeling much better these days because all of our big stuff is booked or in the process of being booked.

We of course have decided on a place to get married as well as a wedding date - hello Hawaii can't come soon enough, especially when we saw temps of almost -50C last night with the windchill! Gross!

We are in the process of booking flights and our hotel, which will be done on Noel's next set of days off. We have decided on what hotel though! We have booked our photographer and a musician (a ukulele player to be exact!) for our ceremony. We are in the process of booking our flowers and a dinner after the wedding as well. Our invites have been ordered and will be mailed out as soon as we get them. They are gorgeous and exactly what I wanted! I will post them when they get here. My dress has been ordered as well. I still need to book hair and makeup for the morning of our wedding.

We have booked our reception for Oct. 6th where we will invite all of our friends and family! We have booked a live band which we really have hummed and hawed over for the last six weeks. But it's done now and we are excited! They will also bring a DJ to play in between their sets and after as well.We are gathering ideas for decorations for our reception but we have a pretty good idea of what we'll be doing. A family friend is making our favours for us as we speak - pineapple jelly. We will also be bringing a pineapple spice back from Hawaii to add to the favours as well.We still have to book a tasting for our reception, but I think beef will be on the menu.

And we continue to work hard and save, save, save for both our wedding and reception. Going into the planning we only had one rule - we would not put a single thing on credit. We don't want to be paying for our wedding for the next year. It will be all paid in cash and that way we can just enjoy the moment as it comes!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

What a whirlwind the last couple weeks have been! Between Christmas and New Years, getting together with friends and family, travelling and trying to relax somewhere in there, I can't believe we've already hit 2012!

I have BIG plans for this year! Of course we are getting married! We have actually set the date. We will be getting married in August in Hawaii! We are extremely excited!

The reception will be booked by this weekend. Noel is coming home tonight and is on his days off so we will be getting to work. We do have two venues on two different days tentatively booked though so I feel good!

Wedding planning has been somewhat stressful. It has been fun for the most part but I am basically planning two different weddings - or so it feels like - so the coordination of a ceremony and reception in Hawaii and then a reception here has been somewhat trying on my nerves at times. All of this while Noel works away 90% of the month so I am really on my own when it comes to getting things done.

2011 was a great year as well but I am definitely looking forward to 2012! For some reason I feel like it's a fresh start and it's time to turn over a new leaf. I'm not too sure where this is coming from, but I have never felt it before when another year has gone by.

I don't really make resolutions per se, because I think for the most part you are setting yourself up for failure. But there are some things that I want to work on this year and they include of course continuing to live a more healthy lifestyle, being more financially responsible, saving more, trying to not let the little things bother me as much, relaxing more and continuing to appreciate what I have on a day to day basis.